Highway painted line marker



Sep 16, 1952 F. E. BALLEW HIGHWAY PAINTED LINE MARKER Filed Jan. 26. 1948 I INVENTOR.

Frank E. Eollew FIG. 2.

ATTORNEY iU-MTED i PATENT i Patented Sept. 1 6 1952 if: i

I 2,610;4a2 I '"me wlirrm etmemeiia Frank E. Ballew liainsihgiilllich. m plication January 26,1948;'seriai naagra i1 3 Gla'ims. (ce lo- 125) This niventiermeiates t srgns; ane more parb'ent"slightly outwardly; asfindicated'a I j".'Ihe ticularly to warning signs used to markeprocorners l1 providepoints w it; liav tendency -.hibitla'd zones, such asffshly-paintedliiieson to'dig'into 'the*ro'ad surface';"as-- llfas aidin hi 'ghways. supporting the body foffth' sign fabove' a. fee

. 3 tdsl'theecustoniifor road-;i naintenance%men to" "fof the freshly painted stripe. 3 f A r-p nton hard surfaced" foads warningf-marks, Thesign fs painted ith a goodfqua'lity -sucli' as center line stripes, curve indicating rarpreferablyof ajdark 00101;; fOn bothjsu is painted "at olor The .;rows-, eh g mange; Although; quick drying paints eachleg" a warnin mark 1 4 jare usually employed,---an -appreciable;period j contrasting" well with the background lelap ses afterithe application of} the paint before" 'l0j 'warnin'g marks ma beawtrasuenastn ord it is x lry enough to permit :vehieles to travel' on 'We't indicated inf'the'drawings'jora b ls the painted surface. Accordingly, it--is-e=custoffeye 'or"other""suit'able markigj If, rd the mary to place 'various types of warning devices, bottoms ofth'e warning markssh'oul'd'adioin the such as flags mounted on standards, at intervals vertex of the angle formed between the legs.

along the painted lines. The signs are placed over a freshly painted Devices previously have not been particularly st ip 8 o t e h way. as shown in i ure 1- satisfactory. They have been relatively expen- The stripe is indicated in broken lines. The

sive and have been easily broken if struck by points H on leg l2 and the ends of the flared porvehicles. They are frequently knocked out of tions I4 rest upon th road Surface. lin position by passing cars, if not by direct conthe painted stripe l8 and supporting the main tact with the vehicle, by the rush of air set up body-of the sign clear of the stripe. The warning by rapidly moving automobiles and trucks. marks on the le I l are then in a position to be The present invention eliminates the princiread by the driver of a vehicle approaching from pal disadvantages of previous warning devices either direction.

of this general character. The points I! and the edges of the flared por- The objects of the invention are to provide a tions I4 tend to dig into the road surface sufwarning sign of inexpensive construction, relaficiently to prevent the sign from turning in a tively hard to displace from its set position, not horizontal plane, thus keeping the sign always easily damaged, and easy to repair if not sefacing correctly. The points I1 also minimize riously damaged. movement of the sign longitudinally of the stripe. These objects will more fully appear, and other The shape of the sign, a 45 V, is such that objects will become apparent in the following the center of gravity is located near enough to specification, when read in connection with the the center of the ground side leg to minimize accompanying drawings, wherein: overturning. However, if the rush of air set up Figure 1 is a perspective View of a warning by a passing car is suflicient to overturn the sign, sign embodying the invention; it simply tips over to a position where the leg Figure 2 is a front elevational view thereof; H rests on the road and leg I2 is in the air. The and sign can be set up either way, and will merely Figure 3 is an end elevational view of the sign. topple back and. forth occasionally as passing The sign. designated in its entiretly by numeral 40 cars pass too close. It will not take the position I0, is of relatively simple construction. It is of an inverted V.

preferably formed from a rectangular blank of The flanges l5 and [6 provide grips by which relatively heavy gauge sheet steel. The blank is the signs can be easily picked up. Usually when pressed or bent into a V-shape, as seen in Figcenter lines are painted on rural highways it is ure 3. It comprises two legs II and I2 forming desirable to drop the signs and gather them up approx1mately a 45 angle between them and from a slowly moving pick-up truck. A man on joining each other in a curve l3 of relatively the truck can easily grasp the signs by either short radius. The metal at the two extremities grip that is uppermost.

of the junction is flared outwardly at [4 for a The dimensions of the sign are such as to P p Which l pp pr ntlystraddle a painted stripe of the normal Width, The free extremities of both legs H and I2 of and. to permit vehicles to pass directly over the the sign are flanged laterally outwardly at [5 signs between the wheels of the vehicle.

and Hi to form grips, as will be more fully pointed The signs can be nested and a great many carout subsequently. ried in a small space. Also, if actually struck The free corners of each flange l5 and. 15 are by an auto and flattened out, they can be readily bent back their original shape. Being stamped or bent from sheet metal, they are easily fabricated.

The uses of the invention are numerous, and ofcourse, the shape thereof can be varied considerably without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is t be limited only by the appended claims. a

I claim: I,

1. A warning sign adapted to be placed on a roadway to mark a painted line consisting of a symmetrical one piece body formed of material of suflicient rigidity to retain its shape under normal conditions of use, said .body comprising two rectangular side walls intersecting in an acute angle, said body having projections only at the lateral extremities of the, apex and the V comers of the free edges of said side walls extending outwardly from the planes of the side 'walls to support all of said body except the extremities of the projections clear of a surface on which said body rests. 1 -2. A warning sign adapted to be placed on a roadway to mark a painted line consistingof a symmetrical one piece body formed of material of. suflicient rigidity to, maintain its shape under normal conditions of use, said body comprising two rectangular side walls intersecting in an acute angle, the free edges ofsaid side Walls i being flanged outwardly away from each other, said bodyhaving projections only at the lateral extremities of the apex and the corners of the freeedges of said flanges extending outwardly opposite side wall .4 away from the planes of the flanges to support all of said body except the extremities of the projections clear of a surface on which said body rests.

3. A warning sign adapted to be placed on a roadway to mark a painted line consisting of a symmetrical one piece body comprising two rectangular side walls intersecting in an acute angle, the lateral extremities of the apex of said bodybeing flared outwardly from the planes of the side walls and the corners'of the free edges of each of said side walls being bent outwardly from the planes of the side walls away from the to provide relatively sharp projections, 1

- FRANK E. BALLEW.

- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Neal Oct. 4, 1949 

